PARK COMES TO KIDS POMPANO USES STREET AS SAFE PLACE TO PLAY

POMPANO BEACH -- Raulee Davis, 12, said he usually doesn't venture outside at the Grace Apartments when he gets home from school.

The apartment complex, a low-income housing project, is known for having a crime problem and heavy drug trade. Raulee stays indoors, where it is safer but a little boring.

Last week, however, Raulee was out on the street and having fun for a change. He was jumping rope and playing a checker game called "Connect Four."

Because some youths consider it unsafe in city parks, the city is bringing as much of the park as it can to the children.

For two hours every Wednesday afternoon, a dead-end street near the complex is being cordoned off so Raulee and his friends can play outside.

"It's fun," Raulee said after getting his feet tangled up in a jump rope. "It's better for kids, being away from the drugs. It keeps me from getting hurt."

Pompano Beach, which began the program on an experimental basis two weeks ago, is the only major city in Broward County to bring recreation to children in low-income areas. At one time Hollywood had a mobile trailer that brought crafts and activities to various neighborhoods, but that vehicle broke down, said Irene Devin, Hollywood's recreation superintendent.

The idea started in big cities, which sometimes close off side streets to make temporary parks, said Tim Tapp, Pompano Beach's recreation director.

"It's a way for us to get to the children, give them a quality way for them to spend their time," Tapp said.

Last Wednesday, about 35 children, screaming and laughing, crowded into the 15 foot by 15 foot area at the complex. Two recreation department workers supervised their play at five card tables with enough games to fill a station wagon trunk.

Children from 4 to 14 played a billiards-like game called "Karoun," competed at board games, filled in coloring books, jumped rope and worked on jigsaw puzzles.

Next to that area, toddlers in the complex's day-care center stood clutching the other side of a fence, watching the older children play.

Tapp said that if the program at Grace Apartments is successful, the makeshift park might be brought to other low-income areas where children cannot get to city parks.

Program director Sam Jackson, a teacher at Markham Elementary School, tried to keep the noise down as children ran in and out of the cordoned-off area at the end of the street.

"It'll help the kids as a whole and their families," Jackson said. "Hopefully, even the drug boys will take a different look and move on."

The trouble is that the children at Grace Apartments, 108 units near the intersection of Northwest Third Avenue and 14th Street, have not had any place to play, Jackson said.

The closest park is Westside Park, about five blocks away. Tapp said Westside is too far for any child age 6 or 7 to walk.

Lamar Coney, 12, used to go to parks and the Boys Club, but on Wednesday he was playing with an art design game. He said he likes the parks-at-Grace Apartments program better because "I don't have to walk too far."

"I don't have anything to do," said Sharece Vertil, 11. "If they don't come here, I go to the library."

LaShannon Casseus, 6, also goes to parks, but she liked the recreation department program better.

"This is more fun," LaShannon said. "Because they got games."'

Mitchell Durham, 14, and John Johnson, 8, played a game called "Connect 4" in which they tried to drop checkers in slots on a vertical board to connect four in a row.

Although John had won four consecutive games, both boys said they much preferred the new program to the parks.